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INDEPENDENCE, Mo. -- A dog was found Monday nearly hanging from the side of the I-70 overpass in Independence, Missouri.

“The way I found him, I just couldn’t believe somebody would do that to an animal at all," David Fredman said.

Fredman was headed to work north on Sterling under the I-70 overpass when he spotted Max in desperate need of help.

"I saw what looked like a dog that was being hung over the side of some sort of power box. The cord was definitely strangling him. His feet were touching the ground, but they were barely touching the ground. He was trying to whip his head left and right but could barely move it," Fredman said.

Fredman first called 911, then grabbed his knife.

“As soon as I cut him down, he couldn’t breathe. He was trying to breathe. I tried get him to walk. He couldn’t walk," he said.

Fredman took the dog to KC Pet Project, who discovered the dog, Max, was microchipped and his owner had been looking for him since Monday morning when he somehow disappeared from about a mile away.

Now, Max's owner has questions about how the 16-year-old mixed breed ended up like he did.

“Two hours later there was a phone call came in asking if I was missing my dog," Dee Vaughn said.

Vaughn said there's no way the older dog, who struggles to walk, could have gone that far, that fast on his own. He was horrified when he saw photos of what Max had been through.

“Literally you could see the imprint around his neck where they hung him," Vaughn said.

But he was also grateful for the man who stopped. He invited him to his home as soon as they both got off work Monday.

“Thank you, David, so much. You stopped what you were doing to turn around and save my dog’s life," Vaughn told Fredman.

“I don’t know if he fell off or somebody tried to hang him. The cameras will show," Vaughn said referring to surveillance cameras from nearby or possibly SCOUT cameras he's been unable to access.

“From the way it looks, (it) could have definitely been on purpose. They could have strung him up like that. It was really sad," Fredman said.

Vaughn said when he called police, about the possible theft of his dog and the manner he was found, he was told to contact animal control.

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